Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., a global leader in nutrient recovery solutions, announced that it was named one of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2011 class of Technology Pioneers. Ostara is the only Canadian company to receive this prestigious global award this year, and one of only three water-related companies to be honored.
According to the WEF, this year’s Technology Pioneers represent 31 of the most innovative technology start-ups from around the world who provide cutting-edge innovation and are poised to have a critical impact on the future of business, industry and society. The entire list of Technology Pioneers, with profiles and selected video interviews with their CEOs, founders and chief scientists, can be found at http://www.weforum.org/techpioneers.
“The World Economic Forum is proud to recognize an outstanding group of innovative companies as Technology Pioneers for 2011. Their technologies and business models will have a durable and valuable effect in several industries and society as a whole. We look forward to their unique contributions to the mission of the Forum: improving the state of the world,” said André Schneider, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the World Economic Forum.
Ostara was recognized for its Pearl Nutrient Recovery Process, which recovers nutrients such as phosphorus and ammonia from wastewater and transforms them into an environmentally friendly fertilizer sold under the brand name Crystal Green®. This process protects waterways, conserves natural resources and saves wastewater treatment facilities money. In addition to operating a demonstration scale Pearl® Nutrient Recovery Facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Ostara has two commercial nutrient recovery facilities operating in the United States: at Clean Water Services’ Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Tigard, Oregon, and at Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s Nansemond Wastewater Treatment Plant in Suffolk, Virginia. Ostara will open its third commercial nutrient recovery facility in York, Pennsylvania on September 16, where Ostara will provide nutrient recovery services to the City of York, creating a unique public/private partnership allowing the City of York to help protect the environmentally sensitive Chesapeake Bay while saving operational costs.
“I am very pleased and honored to have received this prestigious award and it is a testament to an amazing team at Ostara that has collectively transformed a promising technology into a viable business,” said Phillip Abrary, Ostara’s President and CEO. “Our technology is not only helping preserve a non-renewable resource by producing a fertilizer from a sustainable source, but is also providing a solution for wastewater treatment plants to recover otherwise polluting nutrients, and turn them into a valuable product, and further protect local waterways.”
The identification of the Technology Pioneer companies is the result of a rigorous selection process. The Forum received more than 330 applications from around the world, and then these were evaluated by 68 global technology experts. To be selected as a Technology Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of a major technology and/or innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary leadership and show all the signs of being a long-standing and sustainable market leader – and its technology must be proven. Previous Technology Pioneers include 23andme (2008), Amyris Biotechnologies (2006), BloomEnergy (2010) Dr Reddy Laboratories (2001), Google (2001), Gridpoint (2008), Kaspersky Lab (2001), Mozilla Corporation (2007), Nanosolar (2007) and Twitter (2010).